Wouldn't it be good
by cein
Summary: Carter and Dave reflect on their lives


  
Yet another fic for the song challenge  
The song in question is 'Wouldn't it be good' by Nik Kershaw (1984)  
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters and I probably never will  
I'm not making any money from this, so don't bother suing me (please)  
Spoilers for Loose Ends, Such Sweet Sorrow, Mayday  
  
  
Wouldn't it be good  
  
John Carter lay on his bed in the Rehab clinic staring idly out the window. It had been twelve hours since he had been admitted. It had been almost twenty hours since he had taken the Fentanyl in Trauma one. He knew that the withdrawal symptoms were going to be starting soon.   
  
How had all this happened to him? Life had been going so well until the fourteenth of February. He had been on track to make chief resident next year. He had found himself a nice little apartment after he had moved out of Kerry's place. Life had been good. And then Paul Sobriki had turned his life upside-down. He knew that he should consider himself lucky. Lucky hah, he thought. Lucky to have had to crap into a bag for a month. Lucky to require five units of blood before he'd even got as far as the operating table. Lucky to have been in so much pain that the only way he could cope was to increase his dosage of painkillers.   
  
He groaned as the first cramps hit him. Why him?  
  
Why did he have to be the one to suffer? Why had he been born to rich parents who weren't even concerned enough about his health to visit him in hospital? Oh sure, they had phoned him and sent him expensive cards and flowers, but all he had really wanted was to see their faces, telling him they loved him. The tears rolled down his cheeks. It wasn't fair. Why couldn't his life be more like.... say Malucci's? Dave strolled through life without a care in the world. He had partied his way through college, but still managed to get into med-school. John had worked his butt off through four years of college and four years of med-school and here was Malucci who had probably goofed off half his lectures and yet they both were M.D.'s.   
  
And Malucci's parents cared. On his birthday a few months after he had started at County, Malucci had brought in a massive cake that his mother had baked for him and shared it around. It had been a simple cake, but the thought that Malucci's mother had cared enough to send it to him, well why couldn't John's mother do something like that.   
  
As the cramps grew worse John started shivering uncontrollably. This was only the beginning.  
  
-----------------  
  
I got it bad  
You don't know how bad I got it  
You got it easy  
You don't know when you got it good  
It's getting harder  
Just keeping life and soul together  
I'm sick of fighting  
Even though I know I should  
The cold is biting   
Through each and every nerve and fiber  
My broken spirit is frozen to the core  
Don't wanna be here no more  
  
--------------------------  
John shivered as the chills started. At this moment he just wished he could be in Malucci's shoes. Sure Malucci was rarely out of trouble at the hospital, but he usually shrugged it off with a wink and a smile. If only things had been different. If only he hadn't been John Carter, rich boy and druggie. If only.  
-------------------------  
  
Wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes?  
Even if it was for just one day  
And wouldn't it be good if we could wish ourselves away  
Wouldn't it be good to be on your side?  
The grass is always greener over there  
Wouldn't it be good if we could live without a care?  
--------------------------  
Dave Malucci lay on his bed in his tiny apartment staring idly out the window.  
  
The neighbors on one side were having their usual 10pm argument, and the one's on the other side were listening to some cop show at full volume. He thought about work that day. Carter had been nowhere to be seen, and when he had asked around, he had been bluntly told to mind his own business. Benton hadn't been around either, which meant that Corday had been in and out of the ER all day. He had done his best to avoid her, but their paths had inevitably crossed when he had called for a surgical consult. Corday had barely looked at him while he was filling her in on the patient. And when she had spoken to him, the word 'doctor' coming from her lips had sounded like an insult. He sighed and rolled over in the bed. Man he was hot. The air conditioning had broken down a week ago and he couldn't afford to get it repaired until his next payday. Even then, it was going to be a stretch to manage. Why was it that all the utility bills fell due on the same day? Dave sighed. If only he was as rich as Carter was. Hell, even if he was only half or a third as rich. Bet you Carter never had to worry about his electricity supply being cut off for non-payment. Carter probably never had to worry about his med-school fees. Okay, the guy had been stabbed and nearly died, but he was fine now. Back to work as if nothing had happened. Taking extra shifts when old man Greene was dying, taking on twice as many patients as anyone else.   
  
And when Carter screwed up, everyone gave him a second chance. No one assumed that a patient of his was screaming because he hadn't been given enough pain medication.  
  
Dave threw back the sheet in an effort to get cooler. Life just wasn't fair. His life just wasn't fair. Carter didn't know how lucky he was. The guy was probably taking a holiday somewhere leaving the rest of the staff to pick up the slack.  
---------------------------  
You must be joking  
You don't know a thing about it  
You've got no problem  
I'd stay right there if it were you  
I got it harder  
You couldn't dream how hard it got it  
Stay out of my shoes  
If you know what's good for you  
The heat is stifling   
Burning me up from the inside  
The sweat is coming through each and every pore  
Don't wanna be here no more  
------------------------  
"Dave is so lucky," thought Carter several hundred miles away. "I wish I was where he is."  
  
"Carter is so lucky," thought Dave in Chicago. "I wish I was where he is."  
  
------------------------  
Wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes?  
Even if it was just for one day  
And wouldn't it be good if we could wish ourselves away  
Wouldn't it be good to be on your side?  
The grass is always greener over there  
And wouldn't it be good if we could live without a care  
------------------------  
  
the end  
  
Just thought I'd send in another fic.  
If it's a bit scrappy, it's because I was thinking about it, during a three-hour car journey, and I typed it up in less than an hour.  
  
Ceindreadh  
  
  
  
  



End file.
